Page 7 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)
I took the coupé glass he offered with a murmured, “ Thank you,” and brought it to my mouth.
Even before I tasted it, I knew it was liquid heaven by the delicate, flirtatious way the bubbles teased the tip of my nose, the heady fragrance I scented, but when it exploded across my tongue with graceful flavor, I had to press my thighs more tightly together, because I had a sexual response to it.
And considering how unexpected that was, once I swallowed, I gaped at the human and said, “ Holy wow.”
He dipped his chin.
“Chateau LeBrand ,” the prince put in.
I turned my head and blinked at him back in his shadow.
Chateau LeBrand ?
The Chateau LeBrand ?
I’d never had it (obviously), primarily because I knew the glass in my hand cost over two thousand marks. An entire bottle would be considered a bargain at twelve.
“You have good taste,” the prince decreed.
“I—”
“I’ve seen dukes sip that, set it aside, and get themselves a beer,” he went on.
I made a face.
“Precisely,” he drawled.
I lifted the glass his way. “ Well , thank you for allowing me to experience it.”
“My pleasure,” he murmured.
Okay, that murmur and him saying the word “pleasure” made me press my thighs more tightly together again.
I never in my life thought I’d think this, but now that I’d met him, I needed to know how fast I could get away from him.
“Are you here for a celebration?” he inquired.
Of course he would assume I wasn’t a regular and this was a special night out.
Then again, it would be easy for him to assume if he was and had never seen me there.
“Of a sort,” I mumbled and took another sip of the amazing champagne.
“What are you celebrating?” he asked.
I couldn’t tell him I was celebrating releasing myself from the confines of my own home where I’d barred myself due to loss, fear and grieving. I’d gone the TMI route that night already, and anyway, it wasn’t any of his business.
“My friend finding a male to love,” I replied.
“Which friend would that be, and which of those males is she falling in love with?”
I turned my head to look across to the bar.
Bash and Tay had changed positions, thank goodness, with Bash talking to Cat , and Tay to Gayle .
However, both my gals were not paying a lick of attention to the handsome males chatting them up. They were failing miserably at surreptitiously watching the prince and me.
I needed to give them lessons.
“Catla, I hope,” I said, and took another sip of champagne.
“And she’s the half demon, or the half fae?”
“Demon,” I said shortly.
“She looks familiar. She also looks to have Truelock blood.”
“That’s because she’s Mammon Truelock’s daughter,” I told the table in front of me.
“I know Mammon well, I’ve yet to meet his daughter.”
“I could arrange that pretty easily,” I offered the table.
“I could as well.”
“I’m sure,” I muttered and took another sip.
“Is there a reason you’re avoiding looking at me?” he asked.
I turned to him. “ Not really. Though , even if I did, I can’t actually see you.”
He shifted so he was turned more fully toward me, and his entire magnificent face, not just the profile, was exposed to me.
At being confronted with it, I tried not to gasp and ended up making a mew I was pretty sure he heard, seeing as, unlike me, he did still have his beast, and they helped you do things like that.
What made me surer was the way his full, perfect lips tipped up in a sexy, smirky smile.
“Better?” he asked smugly, and he was smug because he knew it so much was, and absolutely was not.
“Yes, thank you,” I answered prudishly.
“I never answered you,” he stated.
“Answered me?”
“About curtsying to me at Captain Jacques’s .”
I didn’t catch my lip curling fast enough, which made his smug, smirky, sexy smile come back.
“Yes,” he carried on. “ It’s in public, and any time you’re in public, you must adhere to protocol.”
“I see.”
“However,” he purred, his voice going low and changing from silk to velvet, “say you were walking into my bedroom, and it was just you and me, it would be entirely unnecessary.”
Hang on…
What?
Oh.
My.
Gods .
I was wishing for the shadows back when I watched his eyes make their lazy way down my body to my shoes before he said, “ In fact, it’s highly likely I’d find myself bowing to you.”
My nipples peaked and I was pretty sure I made another mew.
He gaze locked on mine when he finished, “ Though , we’ll have to see.”
Again…
What was happening?
He leaned toward me.
I didn’t know what to do, throw myself at him, recoil, or run.
But by heaven and hellfire, seeing him even closer, he was downright poetic .
“Laura, when I rise, you rise,” he said softly.
“Oh-okay.”
“Allain will arrange for your protocol instruction.”
“I…my…” I started blinking again. “ Wait , what?”
His eyes moved over my face, and the way the light and shadows played with them, I couldn’t see their famous color.
“You aren’t what I expected,” he murmured musingly.
Before I could ask after that, he stood.
I’d learned my lesson, so I instantly set my glass to the table and stood with him.
Once I gained my feet, he swept up my hand and brushed my knuckles with his lips in a move so old-fashioned and gallant, mine parted. I stared at his glorious head bent over my hand, my phantom beast nestled and cooed, and my legs threatened to cease holding me up.
Then without another word, or even a scant glance, Prince Aleksei dropped my hand and walked away.